Miranthe Staden Garbett Report - Willem Boshoff

Fig 4. (www.megalithia.com%2Fstonehenge%2Fstonehenge_heel_2123.jpg)
The site-specificity as well as the use of granite, which contains traces or iridium, an
alien material that quite literally comes from the stars is a druidic device used by
Boshoff to produce some kind of subliminal therapy, to create a sense of standing on
holy ground, of being connected to the cosmos, to our ancestors, to the gods
themselves. Thinking of ourselves as star stuff, as embodiments of universal forces is
very different from seeing ourselves as lowly creatures of the earth or ground (Ross and
Kiesler in Korp 1997: 139). In fact ‘putting our noses in the air’ was quite literally an
evolutionary development, as we left the ground for the trees.
As focal points, the monumental and minimalist forms of these rocks, their polished
black mirror-like surface is certainly conducive to accessing this cosmic perception. Thus
the spiritual and meditative aspect of a sacred place also forms part of its domain or
genius loci.
In these ways, this artwork reminds us of that we are fundamentally linked to Africa, to
each other, to the earth and to the stars. The references to Babel sandblasted on the
rocks, continue the metaphor of our evolutionary journey, in this instance symbolised
by the tower and language which both represent the human impulse to reach from the